Pound Ridge Rallies Support Behind New Bookstore

Susan Williamson (left) worked in television and film for 15 years, and has helped produce several documentaries. Photo Credit: Brian DonnellyIn addition to ABC, Susan Williamson has worked for Nickelodean on shows like Blue's Clues.Photo Credit: Brian DonnellyBooksy Galore opened in late October. Photo Credit: Brian Donnelly

More Articles business

comment

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – A Pound Ridge woman says her experiences working on Wall Street, television and film have been the perfect training ground to open a little bookstore in sleepy Pound Ridge.

Susan Williamson recently opened Booksy Galore on 67 Westchester Avenue after deciding to take one year off from pursuing her Ph.D. in political science. She had planned to open a little bookstore when she retired. But, when the mother of two started selling her and her friends’ political science books online, the idea took off.

“I had 1,500 books at my house all over everywhere. I was like an episode of hoarders,” she said. “I actually still have not been able to move the books from my house here because most of the books in here have been donated over last couple of months. I got 10 bags of books yesterday in one day alone.”

Not only are people donating books, some are paying more than the selling price and still others are donating their time. Bryce Hollingsworth saw Williamson unpacking boxes of books and putting up shelves when she first opened in late October and said to himself, “I gotta get in on this.”

“I’d been through here and I knew for a fact that we didn’t have a book store, because I always make sure that I know where the book stores are,” said Hollingsworth, who grew up in Houston reading piles of books with his father, the same way some kids play catch with their dads. “Everyone likes a place where they can come and bring their kids, grab a couple of books, leave a couple of books if they want.”

Williamson said she has been able to break even so far thanks to her background in finance, promotion and academia, which she was happy to discover are useful skills when running a new business. She hopes to become a community fixture.

“There’s a big difference between people just dropping off books to get rid of them and people saying it’s important to have a community space for artists and writers and to just hang out and talk about books.”

The store will host its first author reading with Paula Cappa at 2 p.m. Sunday for free. She will also answer questions about her book, “Dazzling Darkness.”

You may RSVP through email at Susanwilco@gmail.com, phone at (914) 764-3171, or
Facebook
.